EMC Taps Into Grid for $30M

In its quest to become a more pervasive provider of information systems, EMC purchased grid software from Acxiom Corporation for $30 million as part of a technology and distribution partnership.

Acxiom, of Little Rock, Ark., makes grid software that helps its customers improve the way they use computers and access information. It provides a single location where services and data content can be manipulated, stored and made available to serve applications.

Grid technology, where many machines are applied to one task simultaneously, achieves faster results for enterprise computing. Research experts such as The 451 Group believe grid is a cornerstone for utility computing platforms, where customers can pay for computing power "by the drink."

Initially, EMC and Acxiom will jointly develop and market an information grid solution to customers as a hosted offering from Acxiom.

But EMC has purchased the Acxiom grid software and eventually the companies will integrate relevant systems, software, services and data from both companies into one information storage grid product for customers.

The idea is to help customers meet their requirements for speedy information exchange, retrieval and management at a time when data is growing at staggering rates, said EMC CTO Jeff Nick. This will help EMC fortify its information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy for managing data from cradle to grave.

"For many organizations, innovation and competitive advantage are locked inside this wealth of data  from internal sources on customers and prospects, to external sources on demographics and purchasing habits, to supply chain data," Nick said in a statement.

Nick said EMC has been evaluating grid software for a while and found Acxiom's grid solution to be the most advanced. Other players in the grid software space include Platform Computing, DataSynapse and United Devices, among others.

Nick is well qualified to judge grid software. EMC hired Nick away from IBM, where he had worked for 24 years and earned the distinguished title of IBM Fellow.

Nick was responsible for the design and architecture of IBM's on demand initiative and at one point also led IBM's grid computing strategy. Along with the Globus co-founders, Nick was a co-author of the first grid computing/Web services document.